BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 7, 2022) – Boater Brent Anderson of Kingston Springs, Tennessee, caught five bass Saturday weighing 24 pounds, 2 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Dale Hollow Lake. The tournament was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League Music City Division. Anderson earned $15,000, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory. The win followed Anderson’s Choo Choo Division victory earlier this season at the Phoenix Bass Fishing League on Pickwick Lake on Feb. 26.
“My day started off pretty rough,” said Anderson, who now has 10 career Phoenix Bass Fishing League wins. “I made a long run up the river where I thought I could catch a quick limit finesse fishing, but after 3½ hours I only had two bites and I didn’t have a keeper.
“I ran back down to a stretch in the mid-lake area where I had caught one good fish in practice,” Anderson added. “I just took a look at the conditions and started focusing on wind-blown points on the main lake.”
Anderson said he used a white Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer and a homemade white and chartreuse spinnerbait to target bass sitting in three to five feet of water. He said he would cast to the bank and slow roll the bait down the point. Anderson said he caught 20 fish, including 15 keepers, during the course of the day.
“Once I figured out the pattern I’d catch fish every stop,” Anderson said.
Anderson said his inexperience on Dale Hollow, combined with the slow start to his day, had him doubting his chances for a quality finish in the tournament.
“At 12:30 if you would have asked me if I was ready to put the boat on the trailer, I would have probably left,” Anderson said. “I was that far beat mentally. And then a light went off. I said, ‘Dude, it’s easy. It’s 70 degrees and the wind is crashing these banks. You know the fish are going to be sitting up shallow.’ I made the right stop, then looked at my map and kept duplicating it. By the end of the day I was calling my shots. Talk about going from zero to hero.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 24-2, $15,000 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Tristan Abbott, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 19-4, $3,000
3rd: Greg Perry, Lost Creek, W.V., five bass, 18-12, $2,500
4th: Mike Bryant, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 17-15, $1,400
5th: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 17-10, $1,150
5th: Kelly Readhimer, Beech Bluff, Tenn., five bass, 17-10, $1,150
7th: Colton Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 17-4, $1,000
8th: Billy Baugus, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 16-12, $900
9th: Mitchell Major, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 16-10, $800
10th: Jake Cross, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 16-3, $700
Anderson had a 9-pound, 10-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000. Gilbert Jolley of Livingston, Tennessee, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,200 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Gilbert Jolley, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 18-7, $3,200
2nd: Grant Frazier, Manchester, Tenn., five bass, 17-5, $1,500
3rd: Jordan Garrett, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 14-0, $1,000
4th: Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $700
5th: Robert Pepiot III, Lexington, Ky., four bass, 13-14, $1,100
6th: Bradley Yaden, London, Ky., five bass, 13-13, $550
7th: Kenny Botts, Alvaton, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $500
8th: Ben Pridemore, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 13-6, $425
8th: Caleb Barnes, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 13-6, $425
10th: Casey Carpenter, Gallatin, Tenn., five bass, 13-3, $350
Pepiot caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $500.
https://dev.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-dale-hollow-3722.html
BFL News Archive